本集内容

Research reveals tortoises may have optimistic personalities

研究发现乌龟可能具有乐观的性格

文字稿

Moses, Esme and Gerard Butler are all tortoises who live here at the University of Lincoln, where Professor Anna Wilkinson has been trying to find out if they're optimists or pessimists.

摩西、埃斯梅和杰拉德·巴特勒都是生活在林肯大学的乌龟，安娜·威尔金森教授一直想知道它们是乐观主义者还是悲观主义者。

Professor Anna Wilkinson, University of Lincoln
"What we did was we said if your food bowl is on the right-hand side, if you go there, you'll get some food. If your food bowl is on the left-hand side, if you go there, you won't get some food. And the tortoises very rapidly learn this. And then we say, well, what do you do when it's halfway? Are you an optimist? Do you treat it as if it's full or half full at least? Or a pessimist, as if it's likely to be empty? And so we did this to our tortoises. And what we found was overall, they had an optimistic bias – which we were delighted by."

安娜·威尔金森教授     林肯大学
“我们的做法是，如果你们吃饭的碗在右手边的位置，你们去那里就能得到一些食物。如果你们吃饭的碗在左手边的位置，你们去那里就得不到任何食物。乌龟很快就掌握了这个规律。然后我们就想知道，当吃饭的碗放在中间的位置时，乌龟会怎么做？你是一个乐观主义者吗？你会觉得它是满的，或者至少是半满的吗？或者你是悲观主义者，可能会觉得碗中空空？我们就用这个方法测试了我们的乌龟。结果发现，总体而言，它们具有乐观偏差，这让我们很高兴。”

Which is all very interesting. But what's the point?

这个发现非常有趣，但意义何在？

Professor Anna Wilkinson, University of Lincoln
"If you have a pet tortoise and you understand that tortoise has feelings, you're gonna put more time, effort and energy into looking after it in the best way. If you think some tortoise species can live for up to 200 years – that's an awful long time to be kept in suboptimal conditions. So actually, for that individual tortoise, it has a massive impact."

安娜·威尔金森教授     林肯大学
“如果你养了一只宠物乌龟，而且你知道乌龟是有情感的，你就会投入更多的时间、努力和精力以最好的方式照顾它。想象一下有些乌龟物种能活到 200 岁，那么在不好的条件下生活这么长时间实在是不尽人意。所以实际上，对于那只乌龟个体来说，你的照顾会对它产生巨大的影响。”

So how do you tell if a tortoise is in a good mood?

那么，如何判断一只乌龟的心情好不好呢？

Well, maybe I need to get to know one a bit better.

也许我需要更好地了解一只乌龟。

Jake Zuckerman, BBC Correspondent
"Well, this is Mary. And as I'm sure you can tell from just looking at her face, she's a very optimistic tortoise. And that's because she knows I've got an apple here. But I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mary. This is my apple, not yours. Oh, look at that face. She's absolutely fuming."

杰克·扎克曼     BBC 通讯员
“这是玛丽。我相信你们从她的表情就能看出来，她是一只非常乐观的乌龟。那是因为她知道我这里有个苹果。但很抱歉要让你失望了，玛丽。这是我的苹果，不是给你的。噢，看看那表情。她气坏了。”

Professor Wilkinson has spent 20 years working closely with tortoises.

威尔金森教授 20 年来一直致力于乌龟物种的研究。

And yes, she does have a favourite.

当然了，她确实有一只最喜欢的乌龟。

Professor Anna Wilkinson, University of Lincoln
"Number one is Moses, and he is my pet. And so, absolutely, don't tell the others, but yeah."

安娜·威尔金森教授     林肯大学
“我最喜欢的是摩西。他是我的宠物。但绝对不能告诉其它几只乌龟。”

Jake Zuckerman, BBC Correspondent
"You don't want to hurt their feelings."

杰克·扎克曼     BBC 通讯员
“你不能伤害它们的感受。”

Jake Zuckerman, BBC Correspondent
"Now we know they've got them."

杰克·扎克曼     BBC 通讯员
“尤其是现在我们知道它们是有情绪的。”

Professor Anna Wilkinson, University of Lincoln
"Exactly!"

安娜·威尔金森教授     林肯大学
“没错！”

重点词汇及表达

optimistic bias  乐观偏差

delighted by  因…而感到高兴

suboptimal conditions  不好的条件

good mood  好心情

fuming  愤怒的